Storage
Battery Storage
Battery storage sized on the gap between when a property generates and when it draws power, with a clear account of what storage does and does not do.
Battery storage
Store energy when it adds practical value.
A battery does one thing: it moves energy from the moment it was generated to the moment it is needed.
Whether that is worth doing depends entirely on how far apart those two moments are in your building. For some properties the answer is clearly yes. For others it is not, and we will say so.
01
Self-consumption
Raising the share of your own generation that is used on site instead of exported the moment it is produced.
02
Evening use
Covering the hours after generation falls away, which for most households is when the building is busiest.
03
Load shifting
Moving a known, repeatable load to a different time of day, where the tariff or the generation curve makes that worthwhile.
Sizing
How storage capacity is decided.
01
Measure the gap, not the roof
The useful capacity is the energy the property draws after generation stops and before it resumes. That figure comes from consumption data, not from the size of the array.
02
Size for an ordinary day
A battery sized for the best generating day of the year sits half empty for most of it. Sizing against a typical day keeps more of the capacity in use.
03
Check what the inverter allows
Whether storage can be added, and how, depends on the inverter. A hybrid inverter fitted at the start is what keeps a later battery straightforward.
04
Decide what backup means here
Keeping selected circuits running during a supply failure is a separate function with its own wiring and its own equipment requirements. It is not automatic, and not every configuration supports it.
Technical facts
What a battery does and does not do
These distinctions matter more than any headline figure, and they are where most misunderstandings start.
| Function | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Self-consumption | Stores surplus generation during the day and releases it when the property draws power. This is the main function in almost every installation. |
| Evening cover | Supplies part of the evening load from stored generation instead of from the grid. How much depends on capacity and on that day's generation. |
| Load shifting | Charges or discharges at chosen times. Useful where a tariff or a predictable load makes the timing worth controlling. |
| Backup supply | Only where the equipment and the wiring are specifically designed for it. It requires a changeover arrangement and usually covers selected circuits, not the whole property. |
| Off-grid operation | A different design altogether, with different equipment and a different cost. A grid-connected battery is not an off-grid system. |
| Later expansion | Some systems accept additional capacity, some do not. If expansion matters, it belongs in the specification from the start. |
Why this page publishes no savings figure
Savings from storage depend on your consumption pattern, your tariff, the installed capacity and the regulations in force. Any single percentage would be wrong for most readers. This is a demonstration website for a fictional company, so no figure is published here at all. In a real project the calculation would be made on your own data and shown with its assumptions.
Storage questions
Deciding whether a battery belongs in your system.
A battery is the component most often bought for the wrong reason. These are the questions that keep the decision honest.
No. A solar installation works perfectly well without storage, and for a property that uses most of its power during daylight hours a battery may add little. Storage is an option, not a requirement.
Only if it was designed to. Backup requires specific equipment and a changeover arrangement so the property can be safely separated from the grid. Where it is included, it usually covers selected circuits rather than everything. Ask for it explicitly if you want it.
Often, but the cost depends on what the original installation left room for. Where a hybrid inverter, a cable route and space in the board were provided, it is straightforward. Where they were not, the work can extend well beyond the battery itself.
Manufacturers state expected life in years and in charge cycles, together with the capacity retained at the end of that period. Those figures are product-specific and belong in the proposal with the datasheet, so this demonstration site does not quote any.
Position depends on the product: ventilation, temperature range, weight, protection rating and access all matter, and they differ between models. It is decided during design, not on the day of installation.
Next step
Discuss battery storage for your property.
Tell us when the building actually draws power. That is what decides whether storage is worth fitting.